I can't stay much longer, Melinda   The sun is getting high   I can't help you with your troubles   If you won't help with mine   I gotta get down, I gotta get down   Gotta get down to mine      You keep me up just one more night   I can't sleep here no more   Little Ben clock says quarter to eight   You kept me up till four   I gotta get down, I gotta get down   Or I can't work there no more      A lotta poor man make a five dollar bill   Keep him happy all the time   Some other fella's makin' nothin' at all   And you can hear him cry   "Can I go, buddy, can I go down   Take your shift at the mine?"      Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine   Gotta get down to the Cumberland Mine   That's where I mainly spend my time   Make good money, five dollars a day   Made anymore, I might move away      Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues   He can't win for losin'   Lotta poor man got to walk the line   Just to pay his union dues   I don't know now, I just don't know   If I'm goin' back again   I don't know now, I just don't know   If I'm goin' back again   I don't know now, I just don't know   If I'm goin' back again